Freestanding work bench for my garage

[Jack Olsen]

Thanks, Marcel. This was partly for aesthetics. Since it faces out of the garage, it's the first thing you'd see -- I figured it might as well look a little different. Also, it was a chance to learn a little about bending a piece of steel in a no-pressure, no-stakes situation. If it didn't work, I had a spare piece ready to go in as a horizontal.

This won't be a heavy pounding table -- I don't think the Maple would hold up to that. Five feet away I've got an inch-thick piece of plate on top of a Strong Hold cabinet all set up for heavy persuasion.

[Marcel Bauer]

That makes sense all around then!

CHEERS!

[Great White TJ]

Another very nice job Jack, your Projects around your home are outstanding.............

[SBray]

Jack,

Excellent Job!

Steve

[m.k.swelding]

that looks realy great. I like the way it all fell togather

[Jack Olsen]

Thanks.

It's getting closer. The paint looks light in this picture, but it matches the rest of the steel in the garage. I also stained the Maple very dark. The varnish is drying, here, but it's a satin finish, so it won't look too 'furniture-y.'

[billybee60]

Very nice Job!

[Mountain Metal]

Great Table

Nice design.

[KT WELDOR]

The first thought that came to mind was AWESOME! I looked at those benders at Harbor frieght . I am seriously thinking of buying one. Looks like it worked pretty well for you. I make a lot of artistic window grills for people who want security but don't want their house etc, to look like it's Fort Knox. The bender would take a lot of the maual labor out of my arched tops. I bought a demo tube bender from Harbor Frieght and it works great got the whole shooting match for under 60 bucks. They just wanted to unload it. Guess being in the right place at the right time with ready cash got me a great buy.

I think like an artist so your table is right in tune with something I would build . I have pratical work pieces but its always nice to show off your artistic side lol! So whatca gonna build next. I'll be watching.

[Jack Olsen]

Thanks a lot guys. I'm no artist -- not by a long stretch. But I usually end up with a curve or an arch in most of the things I build. It's a throwback to a half pipe my father helped me build when I was 12. It's a simple thing, but...

...it shows up in the cabinet above that bench:



And in the roofs of the sheds I built for my driveway:



And in the wall unit for the nursery when my son was born:



Lots of curves.

I'll probably get a lot of use out of this roll bender. KT WELDOR, if you're patient you can usually find it at HF for $149 on sale. If you add a 20% coupon you get off the internet, it comes down to about $120. The round tubing dies that come with it are labeled wrong -- they're actually 1", 1.5" and 2". The 1/2" square tubing die sets go down to $39 on sale. One of these days, I'm going to figure out how to widen one of them for 1" square tubing.